By Carter Meagher

WARNING: I plan to spoil every single season of the hit reality tv game show Survivor in this article. Please do not read if you want to be the slightest bit surprised as to the winner of any season.

Jonny Fairplay, one of the most notorious Survivors, at an event after his appearance on season 7. Photo credit: user Nightscream via Wikimedia.

In a scene from season 7 of Survivor, notorious contestant Jonny Fairplay sobbed to his tribemates about his dead grandmother. “My Grandma is not here for a reason, She’s not around.” However, as he revealed after the show ended, Fairplay’s grandmother was alive the whole time. He lied so his sympathetic tribemates would allow him to win a challenge. Fairplay’s actions, although extreme, represent the drastic lengths players will go to in order to win the game.

Survivor is a reality show where 16-20 strangers, called castaways, are stranded on an island, separated into tribes, and forced to compete in challenges and learn to survive on their own. After each “immunity challenge,” the losers vote out a member of their own tribe. After a merge, the challenges become individual instead of tribal. At the end of the season, the remaining two or three players ask a jury of voted-out players to vote for the winner. Survivor tests contestants’ ability to interact socially, perform physically, and adapt strategically to the different twists and turns in the game, all while under physically taxing conditions. 

Since the first episode aired in May 2000, Survivor has spanned 43 seasons, 635 episodes, and 644 contestants. Carrie Battan of The New Yorker describes the show as “highly entertaining and highly influential.” She especially highlights Survivor’s ability to adapt to changing social climates as the principal reason for its longevity. As the survival aspect became less and less entertaining to the show’s viewers, the showrunners added more twists and turns “to amp up the strategic component of the game.” The producers’ ability to change Survivor over its many seasons is the main reason the show’s fans are so dedicated.

However, out of those 644 contestants, only a few are able to master all aspects of the game. Those who do it the best take away the highly coveted $1 million prize and the title of “Sole Survivor.” And, in Survivor’s 40th season, 20 of the show’s past “Sole Survivors” returned to play again in the spring of 2020, this time for $2 million. 

The $2 million was not the only twist the producers introduced for this anniversary season. They also included the Edge of Extinction, returning from season 38, and the new Survivor currency: fire tokens.

I had mixed feelings about the Edge of Extinction returning for season 40. Instead of being voted out, players are sent to another island to wait for a chance to return. On one hand, it offered another opportunity for a contestant to return late in the game, rewarded for being voted out with the chance to form genuine connections with the future jury. This was unfair to those castaways that stayed in the game the whole time. On the other hand, it ensured that I would continue to watch and hear from my favorite players, even after they were voted out. 

In Survivor: Winners at War, players from as far back as season 2 played alongside more recent winners. This dynamic, known as the battle between “old school” (contestants who played for the first time before season 20) and “new school” (contestants who played after season 20), permeated the conversation around and inside the game. Theoretically, the split could have been even: half of the players from before season 20, and half from after. However, the majority of winners this season came from later seasons, immediately putting old-school players, mostly my favorites, in a dangerous minority. 

Macy Cafritz (‘23), an avid Survivor fan, disagrees with me about the Edge of Extinction. “I often feel, with the Edge (and its predecessor, Redemption Island), the players are always isolated from the game and are then automatically at a disadvantage when they get brought back in. That being said, historically, in Survivor, winning on the Edge of Extinction/Redemption Island puts a target on anyone who returns to the game and it’s pretty much impossible to win after you’ve been voted out.”

The Edge of Extinction offered another, more exciting opportunity for the players themselves. When the contestants started the game, they were given one “fire token,” but not any explanation as to what they were used for. As the game progressed, survivors on the Edge of Extinction searched for advantages that they could sell to players still in the game for these tokens. Natalie Anderson (season 29 winner), voted out first, accumulated over 16 fire tokens, which she used to help her get back into the game. 

Once again, the Edge of Extinction provided a player returning to the game with the ability to form connections with the future jury not provided to those who remained in the game. However, despite Anderson’s shrewd strategic maneuvering after her return, she lost in the final tribal council. Because of my distaste for the advantages provided by the Edge of Extinction, I was pleased that Anderson lost, even though I enjoyed watching her play. 

Tony Vlachos, winner of season 40. Photo credit: CBS. 

The winner of the season, Tony Vlachos (season 28 winner, season 34), was an undeniable force in Winners at War. With many excellent winners around him, Vlachos didn’t begin to stand out until after the castaways were united into one tribe, the merge. Here, Vlachos reverted to the chaotic gameplay that helped him win his first season. He searched for idols at all hours of the night, pledged his allegiance to multiple alliances, and orchestrated the vote-outs of some of his closest allies. 

In the 11th episode, Vlachos began to excel. He started by manipulating another contestant, Nick Wilson (season 37 winner) out of searching for an immunity idol, and Vlachos managed to find the idol secretly. Then, he infiltrated Jeremy Collins’ (season 29, season 31 winner) minority alliance, convincing Collins of his loyalty. When Anderson sent him a disadvantage from the Edge of Extinction, Vlachos was forced to pay six fire tokens or sit out of the challenge and lose his vote. He used his relationship with Collins to collect the fire tokens needed to pay off this bribe, all while still planning to vote him out. However, when it came down to it, Vlachos convinced Collins and his alliance to vote the way he wanted, and get rid of one of his threats and closest alliance members. Vlachos continued to drive the vote for the next few episodes. Watching the finale, I was proud to see Vlachos rewarded for his dominance in every aspect of the game.

As Dalton Ross, a seasoned reality TV critic, put it in Entertainment Weekly, “the overwhelming feeling I have had is joy.” I strongly agree. The bottom line of reality TV, even when it masquerades as a “microcosm for our real world,” is that it’s supposed to be enjoyable. This season certainly was. Despite many of my favorite players being voted out early, I still continued to hear their thoughts from the Edge of Extinction. Vlachos deserved his win this season and was extremely pleased with his decisive win. Winners at War has taken its place as one of my favorite Survivor seasons.

Although, after more than 40 seasons, Survivor is no longer the national phenomenon it was during its early seasons and its contestants do not become instant celebrities, the show is still relevant nearly 23 years after its first episode, a claim not many other reality shows can make. As an avid Survivor fan, I have not only seen every season, but I continually rewatch older ones. Although I have attempted to find my “Survivor fix” with other reality shows like Big Brother (which also began in 2000), Survivor remains the only one that I feel fully connected to and immersed in. I attribute my unwavering love for the show to its reflection of the real world. 

Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, welcoming the 20 former winners to season 40. Photo credit: CBS. 

Lauren Watts (‘22), another Survivor fan, spoke about the show in her Senior Speech in an Upper School Assembly on Oct. 5, 2021. In the speech, she attributes her love of Survivor to the“interactions [that] reflect many of our experiences.” She sees herself in many contestants and the way they played the game. I strongly agree. I can’t see myself in many Big Brother players, most of whom play up a character for the cameras. On Survivor, contestants reach emotional and physical lows, and their true personality and grit shine through. Seeing contestants become their true selves while fighting to win the game keeps Survivor so popular and enjoyable to me.